Skip to main content

Louis J. Sapienza

Thu, 01/19/2023 - 09:43

Nov. 23, 1952 - Jan. 8, 2023

Louis J. Sapienza, the owner of East Hampton Masonry Supply, died on Jan. 8 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. He was 70 and had lived with heart disease for several years, his family wrote.

Mr. Sapienza began his career in the masonry industry after college in the mid-1970s, and started his own business in 2013 after a long tenure with Southampton Brick and Tile in Southampton and Wainscott.

“His dogged determination and keen ability to connect with people, coupled with his dedicated, hard-working staff, were instrumental in establishing a successful business and brought him tremendous joy,” his family wrote. “He loved working with customers in his masonry yard, driving around and moving things with his forklift and bucket loader, and especially loved making deliveries of gravel or sand in his well-used dump truck. Lou was always there to give someone a helping hand. If something needed fixing, he would get the job done, and probably found the part in his dump truck.”

Mr. Sapienza enjoyed traveling and always made it an adventure. “He was fearless, and if there was something you wanted to see, Lou was bound and determined to find it,” his family said, remembering his quest to find Sapienza University on a trip to Rome so that he could buy sweatshirts as Christmas gifts for his siblings. He found it after a harrowing taxi ride, but the university did not sell sweatshirts.

“Lou was passionate about food, cigars, and wine, but most of all loved his dogs, Joey and George,” his family wrote. They also recalled his “calm, even-tempered personality.”

Mr. Sapienza was born on Nov. 23, 1952, in Everett, Mass., to Louis J. Sapienza and the former Margaret Coogan. He graduated from Riverhead High School and the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

He lived in Springs and, before that, in Southampton.

He is survived by his partner, Dawn Trettner of Springs, and by eight siblings, Susan Egan of Venice, Fla., Judy Thilberg of Mattituck, Louisa Sapienza Kiendzior of Shelburne Falls, Mass., Carol Underwood of Laurel, Margaret Bokinz of Jamesport, Patricia Sapienza-Brown and David Sapienza of Riverhead, and Lawrence Sapienza of Bridgewater, N.J. His brother Joseph died in 2009.

Villages

Volunteers Take Up Invasives War at Morton

Most people go to the Elizabeth Morton Wildlife Refuge in Noyac, part of the National Wildlife Refuge system, to feed the birds. There, black-capped chickadees and tufted titmice, for better or worse, have been trained to accept seeds from human hands. On Saturday, however, 15 people showed up instead to rip invasive plants out of the ground.

Apr 24, 2025

Item of the Week: Wild Times at Jungle Pete’s

If you had to guess where a jungle was located in Springs, where would you say it was? If you guessed Fort Pond Boulevard, you would be correct. That’s where Jungle Pete’s once stood, an eatery and watering hole that served countless Springs residents, including the Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.

Apr 24, 2025

The Sweet Smell of Nostalgia at Sagaponack General

Stepping into the new Sagaponack General Store, which reopened yesterday after being closed since 2020, is a sweet experience, and not just because there’s a soft-serve ice cream station on the left and what promises to be the biggest penny candy selection on the South Fork on your right, but because it’s like seeing an old friend who, after some struggle, made it big. Really, really big.

Apr 17, 2025

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.